In the midst of ‘Franken-bill’ fight, Senate tables all House measures

The House and Senate have spent the better part of today creating “Franken-bills” by patching one bill onto another – as a way of forcing the other chamber to take up their favorites.

Tempers are apparently at a breaking point, according to my AJC colleague Kristina Torres.

Just before the Senate tabled all House bills on its calendar, Rules Chairman Jeff Mullis, R-Chickamauga, who controls traffic on the chamber floor, had this to say:

“Work is never enough. We always do what we’re supposed to do. We get the job done. But good deeds never go unpunished. Well, I had offered to be here on Sunday with my staff. It was never intended…I want them to be with their families.

“Well, we will not be here Sunday to be here for the convenience of the House. We may not be here tomorrow – I’m still deciding on that. We offered an olive branch and were kind of slapped with it.”

Mullis was apparently responding to comments made by House Speaker David Ralston, who took the microphone in his chamber to declare that no member had to come on Sunday to meet with Mullis — because that would take them away from their families.

The Senate is now in recess until 3 p.m., after which it will begin to take up House bills. How many? “More than zero,” we’re told.

And now the House Rules Committee is about to meet, and could yank all Senate bills off its calendar.

Most of those Frankenbills are unconstitutional. The state constitution expressly prohibits bills having two or more different subject matters. sometimes the subjects are close enough to be questionable, but this year they''ve ignored the constitution completely. I just hoe one or two are challenged and voided by the courts.